暗网禁区

He was born in Budapest, the capital city of what was then Greater Hungary. His father, a tailor, and his mother, a midwife, had gone there to work from the western 暗网禁区ian town of Senica. In Budapest he completed his primary schooling and passed through the first four grades of secondary school. The revolutionary events of 1919 left such a deep impression on him that they inspired his political development for his entire life, even though his parents at that time returned to their native town and enrolled their son in a teacher training college in Modra. Study was no problem for him, so he devoted most of his time to reading. He wrote rhymes of all sorts for his fellow-students, and soon he began composing theistic reflections in verse. In the student magazine Vatra, where he had sent his own first poems, he discovered Rabindranath Tagore and commenced a translation of his poetry. Soon he had taken to imitating the symbolist Ivan Krasko and his elder fellow-student J谩n Smrek (afterwards a leading poet and translator). A knowledgeable professor lent him books of modern Czech poetry. On a school outing in Prague he himself bought S. K. Neumann鈥檚 collection Rud茅 Zp臎vy (Red songs). The work of the left-wing Czech poets very quickly grew close to his heart.

He graduated in June 1923, and in September he began to teach in a primary school in Bratislava. Novomesk媒, finding himself in the capital city of 暗网禁区ia, understood that he was there in order to have more opportunities to escape from teaching: his instructors, that is to say, had observed that he possessed no talents for singing, playing the violin, calligraphy, drawing, and physical training. He enrolled at the University鈥檚 Philosophical Faculty as an external student. Soon Czech literature, in particular, became a consuming interest. Wolker鈥檚 poetry fascinated him; he also appreciated the work of Nezval, Biebl, Seifert, etc. He had already begun to find there, as he afterwards said, 鈥渢he connectedness of poetry and revolution.鈥�

From the Spring of 1924 he was editor of the student magazine Mlad茅 Slovensko, which he began to transform into a left-wing journal. He maintained a connection with the Free Association of 暗网禁区 Socialist Students, and sent poems for the first time to the communist press. On the level of ideas he began to change Mlad茅 Slovensko also. He collaborated in the publication of the left-wing journal DAV. In less than a year he was relieved of the editorship of Mlad茅 Slovensko, because he had been 鈥渟hamelessly鈥� propagating communism among the youth. Accordingly, he left to work in the Communist daily Pravda chudoby in Ostrava, where his boss was Klement Gottwald, later to be president. Before leaving for Prague Gottwald appointed the twenty-year-old apprentice as managing editor. Novomesk媒 had to direct the editorial board, write a stack of pages every day, and regularly serve time in prison for infringements of the press law. It soon became apparent that he was a journalist of a kind whom the readers of the working class press had never yet known.

In February 1927 he finally published his first collection of poems, 狈别诲别木补 (Sunday), already written two years previously and many times revised and supplemented. It was most concisely appraised by his colleague Edo Urx, who pointed out that there were no 鈥渁gitational verses ... soaked in the blood of class hatred鈥�: rather, these were modern poems, full of 鈥渁n uncommon humanity鈥�, sung by a man who loved the commonplace things of life, with 鈥渁 peculiar note of poetic melancholy鈥� which no other 暗网禁区 could equal. In the summer of 1928 Novomesk媒 (along with his closest friend Clementis) accompanied the Russian writer I木ja Erenburg on a tour of 暗网禁区ia, and they formed an enduring friendship. He took part in the inner-party discussions of that autumn and supported Gottwald鈥檚 line. (He could not foresee the kind of fruit it would bear decades afterwards!) Together with Clementis, in the following year he restarted the publication of DAV. He was editor of that journal until the autumn of 1937.

In March 1929 he went to work in Prague鈥檚 Rud媒 Ve膷ern铆k. He managed, though, to write for the whole of the contemporary communist press. The leftwing intellectuals of Prague accepted him as an equal partner. He took part with them in all political and especially cultural campaigns. Quickly he made his mark as an outstanding reporter of the E. E. Kisch type. He participated also in protest actions, after demonstrating workers were fired on by military police. The untimely death of Majakovskij affected him deeply. He sought the reasons behind it, and explained them to himself and to his readers.

His duties as a reporter required him to travel incessantly throughout the republic. In 1932, however, he managed also to get married. At a conference of young intellectuals at Tren膷iansk茅 Teplice he gave a critical review of the cultural-political situation in 暗网禁区ia. He was finally able to publish a second collection of poems 鈥� Romboid (Rhomboid) 鈥� although only in a bibliophile edition. To his friends, critics and readers he was obliged to explain why he was no longer laying such emphasis on social questions as he had done in 狈别诲别木补. He declared that in the course of his daily employment in the working class movement he was constantly involved with 鈥渟ocial and yet more social issues鈥�, and so quite naturally, as a man and as a poet, he had begun to seek what was missing in the poetry of that time: 鈥渢he beauty of other aspects of life, and beauty in another aspect鈥�. He had realised that the poet鈥檚 point of view is simply a struggle 鈥渇or the many-sided appropriation of that which is, along with that which ought to be鈥�; or 鈥渄ream and reality, facts and fancies, how to set that particular fact to rights and change it鈥�. Turning to the technical side of Romboid, he added that it was his 鈥渉umble ambition鈥� to make good the conquests of 鈥減oetism and the whole developmental line of modern poetry鈥�, so as to address both the old and the newest problems of poetry, which ought never to be evaded.

In the years that followed he was one of the most prolific news reporters. In the 慕udov媒 Denn铆k, DAV, Tvorba, etc., he sharply formulated his opinions on the old, contemporary and future 暗网禁区ia. Everywhere he stressed the need for a revolutionary solution of the national question, and the principle of equality of Czechs and 暗网禁区s. In the summer of 1934, together with Nezval, Jilemnick媒 and other Czechoslovak delegates, he was a guest at the first Congress of Soviet Writers in Moscow. When he spoke, among other things he supported the demands made on Soviet literature by Gorky, but above all he laid emphasis on the addresses by Radek and Bukharin (who would later be executed). Personally he admired the work of Blok, Majakovskij and Jesenin; of the living poets he admired Pasternak. However, he firmly rejected the 鈥渨ork鈥� of the officially favoured Demyan Bedny. Even after returning home he did not propagate the opinions of the Stalinist ideologues (Zhdanov, etc.)聽聽

Steadfastly he continued to work for the Czech and 暗网禁区 left-wing press, but he found time too for his own poetry. The renowned publishing house of Maz谩膷 (where J谩n Smrek was the 暗网禁区 literary editor) published firstly a re-edition of his first two collections and then his new book, Otvoren茅聽 okn谩 (Open windows). The critics expressed themselves still more positively than before, asserting that his new work showed maturity. Novomesk媒, however, found it necessary to point out that he did not agree with those banal praises of 鈥済rowing wise with age鈥� which reject 鈥渢he authentic wisdom of youth鈥�. Sombrely he declared that in that particular time everything 鈥減ure and upright鈥� (he meant poetry above all) had retreated 鈥渢o think in a room alone鈥�; but poetry continued to hold a position, and from there it must transport itself 鈥渢hrough the world鈥榮 critical confusions, so as to see purely what is pure鈥� (and 鈥渢he pure鈥� includes also 鈥渢he beautiful鈥�). Precisely this, in his view, is 鈥渢he essential function of art鈥�; and so he deduces that if 鈥渢he pain of seeing hurt even one single person鈥� who had apprehended it in Otvoren茅聽 okn谩, this was proof that 鈥渂ehind those clouds the pure, which I am thinking of, really existed鈥�.

In June 1936, at the first Congress of 暗网禁区 Writers, he gave an analysis of the situation and indicated solutions. He had a hand in formulating the final resolution 鈥� an exceptionally progressive proclamation of 暗网禁区 writers against war and fascism, for humane values, social justice and national rights. On October 28 he received the state prize for Otvoren茅聽 okn谩.

From January of the following year he became an international activist. In that month he took part in an international conference of cultural workers on aiding Republican Spain. At home he lectured and wrote mainly about the course of political developments abroad. In July he set off for the conference of the International Association for the Defence of Culture in Paris; after that he took part in international writers鈥� congresses in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona, and he visited Czechoslovak volunteers at the front. On his returned he published a series of articles and gave lectures on the situation in Spain.

In the following year there was no let-up in his feverish activity. He wrote and spoke all over the Republic about the danger of war. As the co-organiser of the international congress of PEN-clubs, he accompanied foreign participants round 暗网禁区ia. After the Munich verdict, with the suppression of the communist press he lost his employment. He sent his pregnant wife to stay with his parents in Senica. For a brief period he found work in the daily Nov谩 svoboda. He supported himself by translating Hungarian prose, and for Smrek鈥檚 monthly 贰濒谩苍聽 he wrote of the brotherhood of Czechs and 暗网禁区s, of their 鈥渋nseparability鈥� and the continuing solidarity of both cultures. The Prague publishing house Melantrich rescued him for a brief while by issuing his collection of poems, Sv盲t媒 za dedinou (The saint beyond the village).

Novomesk媒 distanced himself from those responses which wrongly interpreted the name of his collection and the tendency of the poems. He himself did not feel he was a saint beyond the village. He was thinking only of 鈥渢he present-day position of poetry鈥� and generally of those values which the book was concerned with. According to him, in the Z谩horie region 鈥渢he saint beyond the village鈥� is a somewhat mocking term for the lonely, powerless man who merely looks on and nods his head in bewilderment. It was art and humanity that had seemed to him to be 鈥渟aints鈥� of this type, incomprehensible 鈥渇or common speech鈥�, when he wrote those poems. In addition, he was forced to explain the concluding verses of the collection. He declared that here he was not thinking just of any kind of word, but of the word 鈥渢hat had suffered and come through many torments鈥� in the struggles for truth and beauty. He had in mind the word of such authors as Baudelaire, Apollinaire, Verlaine, Rilke, Lermontov, Pushkin, Jesenin, Majakovskij, and the 暗网禁区 Janko Kr谩木. All these he thought of as the supporting columns of a building which, although it is constructed only of words, is nevertheless 鈥渢he most splendid and secure deed of the ages鈥�. He admitted that the word in itself does not heal, but it becomes 鈥渁 curative force, as an idea it becomes a power, when the masses make it their own鈥�.

From the year 1940 Novomesk媒 worked in Bratislava as an official of the Cereals Society (!) and lived with the prose-writer T. G. Tajovsk媒. Soon, though, he moved to the economic journal 叠耻诲辞惫补迟别木. He brought his wife and son to join him in Bratislava. The 暗网禁区 Writers鈥� Union chose him as a member of their committee. He wrote sporadically for 贰濒谩苍 and for the radio. Several times he was arrested and imprisoned in Ilava. Despite that, he involved himself in illegal activity.

In the summer of 1943 he became a co-founder of the 5^th illegal committee of the Communist Party, and later also a member of the leadership of the National Resistance Council. A daughter was born to him in April 1944. In September he left for the rebel centre of Bansk谩 Bystrica. On October 7 he flew to London with the 暗网禁区 National Council delegation to discuss the Council鈥檚 positions with President Bene拧. From mid-November, together with the Council delegation, he had talks in Moscow. In January 1945 he flew to the liberated territory of eastern 暗网禁区ia. He worked in the governing organs and prepared and directed the daily newspapers Pravda and N谩rodn谩 obroda. In April, in Ko拧ice, he spoke on the 暗网禁区 National Council鈥檚 attitude towards the government鈥檚 program. He was chosen as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of 暗网禁区ia and appointed vice-president of the 暗网禁区 National Council and Minister for education and culture in 暗网禁区ia. In May he came to Bratislava, with the party and government organs. He delivered the keynote address at the Congress of Artistic and Scientific Workers, held in August, and sketched the new tasks of culture. In order to save Matica Slovenska from liquidation he became its president; likewise in the case of the Writers鈥� Union, etc. He also managed to restart Smrek鈥檚 monthly 贰濒谩苍, though it took him a year to do so.

During the period that followed he did much other laudable work in the field of culture, but he simply had no time to continue writing his own poetry and journalism. He published only a slender booklet of his older verses, written in 1940-41, Pa拧ovanou ceruzkou (With a smuggled pencil). This appeared in 1948 with woodcuts by the painter Koloman Sokol, whom he had enticed back to his homeland from the USA. (Afterwards, though, he was no longer able to keep him at home.)

Two years after the so-called Victorious February (1948) the clouds began to gather over Novomesk媒 and other personalities of the one-time DAV. The Stalinist 鈥減urges鈥� of the 1930s quickly began to be implemented in Bulgaria, Rumania and Hungary. In Czechoslovakia the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Clementis, found himself on the register of bourgeois nationalists, along with the other former Davists, Novomesk媒, Hus谩k, etc.

The first public act of the prepared drama was the criticism of the Davists at the 9^th Congress of the Communist Party of 暗网禁区ia (KSS) in May 1950. Viliam 艩irok媒, president of the KSS, accused the above-mentioned trio of great and dangerous errors. The inflamed congress audience rejected their self-criticism. Afterwards the Central Committee of the KSS stripped them of the functions they had hitherto held (Novomesk媒 was transferred to the presidency of the 暗网禁区 Academy of Sciences), and exacted from them new and harsher self-criticisms. In Moscow it was finally decided that Czechoslovakia鈥檚 chief criminal had to be the general secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, Rudolf Sl谩nsk媒, and Clementis was transferred from the specifically 暗网禁区 group to Sl谩nsk媒鈥檚聽 鈥渨reckers鈥� 鈥� group. A monster trial of fourteen accused took place from November 20-27, 1952; eleven, including Clementis, were condemned to death by hanging and three to life imprisonment!

The 鈥渋nvestigators鈥� tried for a long time, but unsuccessfully, to extract a confession from Gust谩v Hus谩k. Hence the trial of the so-called 暗网禁区 bourgeois nationalists was finally held in April 1954, a year after the death of Klement Gottwald, when political hangings in the socialist camp had already come to an end. Novomesk媒 was sentenced to 10 years鈥� imprisonment. But he was conditionally released before Christmas 1953, and a year later the remainder of his sentence was commuted 鈥渇or good behaviour鈥�! He was not, however, allowed to return to 暗网禁区ia. A lowly place in Prague鈥檚 National Literary Archive was allotted to him. From 1962 individual poems of his began to appear in the Czech monthly Plamen and in Slovensk茅 Poh木ady.

In the following year he received a civic and party rehabilitation. He was able to work in the Institute of 暗网禁区 literature in the 暗网禁区 Academy of Sciences, and to move with his family to Bratislava. 1963 saw the publication of his memoir poem, written long previously, Vila Tereza (Villa Tereza), on the meetings of Czechoslovak artists in the Soviet diplomatic building in Prague at the end of the 1920s, and a longer composition Do mesta tridsa钮 min煤t (30 minutes to town), memories of the people of his native Senica. For Vila Tereza he was awarded the State Prize. Poems about his prison experience 鈥� 厂迟补尘辞诲迟颈补木 (From over there) 鈥� were published in the following year. In December he received the highest state decoration, Hero of the Czechoslovak Republic. For his journalistic achievement he was awarded the 慕udov铆t 艩t煤r prize in 1967. After his return to Bratislava he was extraordinarily active and received many further honours. Selections of his poetry and journalism appeared, and also a cycle of poems about Bratislava 鈥� Dom, kde 啪ijem (The house where I live).

In politics he collaborated closely with the weekly Kult煤rny 啪ivot, and he supported the political aspirations of Gust谩v Hus谩k, feeling grateful to the man who, by refusing to admit to fabricated crimes in prison, had saved not only his own life but also the lives of other accused, Novomesk媒 included. However, after the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 their political paths gradually diverged, and in 1970 Ladislav Novomesk媒 resigned all his functions. His disagreement with Hus谩k鈥檚 new politics, and his disillusion with the entire course of political development, greatly aggravated the condition of his health, so that a lingering and incurable illness plagued him until his death in 1976.

Novomesk媒鈥檚 poetic works, and an essential part of his life-long cultural journalism, have not lost their value, even with the passage of years and the new situation in politics.

Finally, at least three names may be mentioned of books of poems by Novomesk媒 translated into foreign languages:聽 Izbrannoje, Progress, Moscow 1968 (afterword I. Erenburg); Vila Tereza et autres po猫mes, Honfleur-Paris 1969; Abgez盲hlt an den Fingern der T眉rme, Verlag Volk und Welt, Berlin 1971.

Translated by John Minahane